I'll be honest. I think I'm done for awhile with reality shows on which the public votes for anything. Idol. DWTS. The American presidency. All of it.
The beauty about something like Rock Star or The Apprentice or Big Brother is that its results were never left to total idiots. Sure, I wouldn't classify either Tommy Lee or Donald Trump as total geniuses, but each had a vested interest in who won their respective competitions, so they tended to make savvy picks throughout the course of a season.
Big Brother is all about alliances and strategy and unadulterated back-biting, which is beautiful to watch. Perhaps I should be watching Survivor more.
Alas, again, at the end of American Idol, the most deserving, the most talented -- and this time Simon's anointed -- doesn't win. Doesn't even make the finale.
However, Melinda Doolittle joins a terrific cast of castaways. Join Tamyra Gray, Jennifer Hudson, LaToya London, Chris Daughtry, and I'd even say Elliot Yamin as Idol talents who were booted off too soon at the hands of a fickle, attention-span-challenged (look, a squirrel!) public.
Doesn't mean the finale won't be excellent between Jordin Sparks and the talentless Blake Lewis; however, it does mean I won't be watching. Like my girl Kat McPhee sings, "I'm over it."
Seriously. When a movie comes out, and then its sequel is released and then a third and a fourth -- and eventually you realize nothing ever changes on top of the realization that the actual movies themselves don't get any better, you wonder whether or not the franchise should be retired.
Again, I go back to what I wrote about CBS' decision to pull Rock Star after two seasons. Yes, it needed tweaking, but the show itself had humongous potential to be a cult summer-hit, year after year, if not a network staple.
There is a market for talent-based competition on network TV that actually encompasses nothing but true-blue, awe-inspiring talent. However -- and this is a big however -- you have to leave the public out of it, I'm afraid.
In a country that picked its current president for not one but TWO terms, I can't say that I trust them to pick anything at this point.
However, unwanted editorial comments aside, Wednesday night's revelation that the public selected a guy who wore a tuxedo t-shirt last week and beatboxed to a 1980s arena rocker like somebody with a mild case of retardation (no offense to the aforementioned current president) several weeks ago over a woman who very well could be the next great Gospel singer if not a major Broadway star is pretty much the epitome of what Idol has been about for six seasons.
At first, one believes it to be an anomaly, a "shocker," but after awhile, you get the hint.
What's sad but so true is that it's this same analogy that can be made for our collective apathy about politics, particularly among liberals. There's only so much public idiocy one can take before moving on to something else. My gut hunch tells me the Republicans could nominate Jerry Falwell's dead corpse and still manage to beat whoever we nominate.
Sure, one hopes the Dems can get it together, nominate somebody truly strong and formidable and hope that candidate can communicate the winning message, put together the winning strategy and pull out a win. But most of us left-leaning types gave up on that a long time ago.
So, maybe, Idol should only be watched from afar like I watch politics at this juncture of my life. Fight the good fight, perhaps support the fringe candidates in hopes of sending a message but never, under any circumstances, believe the competent one can win.
With Idol, I say this every year and then re-enter the fray come January, but, honestly, after watching the Mavericks get spanked by a No. 8 seed in the basketball playoffs and seeing my team's owner profess his loyalty to a giant, white spare of a player, and then watching my Rangers get off to a 15-25 start with the worst pitching in baseball and the most overrated hitting instructor in the history of the game, not forgetting the whole Oklahoma-Oregon football debacle from last year, and then this reality-show nonsense, I have decided something.
It really IS time to get a $%&#$@%* life.
But, did I mention I am pretty excited about the upcoming primaries?
Look, a squirrel!
Labels: Idol, life, music, television
You have a higher saturation point than most people. That one episode of American Idol I watched last year is enough reality TV for this decade. I'll try again in 2010.
Yeah, you're very right. I have a stunningly high threshhold for nonsense, on television in particular. These shows are created in bite-sized nuggets such that one only has to commit a small amount of time to any one episode, meaning that by the time you're done with one week's ass-whipping, you have time to recover for the next week -- all in the name of pop culture.
However, The Apprentice lost me as soon as they diluted the original product with Martha Stewart.
Then, DWTS lost me when they failed to diversify its show at all. Plus, that it features people already famous is kind of a turn-off, long-term, for me.
I still really like the shows that turn nobodys into somebodys, if even for 15 minutes. They're fascinating on many levels ... but most reality shows, having started -- honestly -- as contests, as social experiments, as interesting devices for original programming, have turned out to be as interesting as electing the prom king and queen at high school.
Ultra predictable and worthy only of my disinterest until somebody shakes it up.
I have never been a fan of AI, possibly because I am virtually tone deaf and therefore never could tell who had any talent. But mostly because the cruelty of Simon's taunting always took me back to my school days. I prefer fiction. I love "Medium" and "The Office." I even love soap operas. I like my entertainment to be as far from reality as possible. The only "reality tv" that I enjoy is Jay Leno's Monday night headlines. I wish that I had an intelligent point to make here, but I don't, LOL. Maybe because I watch too many soap operas.......
Simon's a big ol' softie, actually, but this comes from somebody who's watched the show for five years. Even his "cruelty" is pretty much schtick, BUT I would say this ... there's very little "real" about the show, and that's the case with most reality television. It's manipulated drama with people who don't happen to be actors ... still enjoy much of it, but even with this genre of television, executives should strive for creativity, change and experimenting. In some ways, failing to change a bit could be Idol's long-term downfall. On the other hand, its success over five years is unparalleled in American television history, so I doubt they'll be tempted to change much.
Anyway, bottom line, I'm with you, but you have a life. I'm trying to get one now that my annual Idol withdrawal has started a week early.
Ok - I must admit I haven't watched Idol at all since you up and left me for Sooner-land...still, as much as I try to avoid it, things have a way of creeping in - Sanjaya, for example (I shouldn't even know who he is, not watching the show once this season, and yet, here I am, writing about him.) Anyway, I was at a gathering last night and the host is a big Idol fan, so we all watched. I think Idol has jumped the shark - ok, maybe not the entire show, but certainly last night's episode. Awards for the freaks? C'mon. State fairs and Carnivals got rid of the freak shows years ago out of political correctness, sensitivity, whatever. Ok, so I'm well aware that the freak shows were not gotten ride of - they simply moved to a different medium. But awards? Really? The Big Yellow thing who insisted on showing her fat roll (hey - I don't even want to look at my own fat roll,) Buckwheat, Jr. with his 'Bilent Nite, Doley Nite, All is Palm' - at least Eddy Murphy made it funny. But really, the worst was the 'best buddies' award with the bush monkey and his slightly retarded side-kick. It was at that point our host looked at me and said, "Watching this is making me a little uncomfortable." Indeed. Of course, we watched the last few minutes when Jordin was selected (my pick for the winner - based solely on last night's show.) I realize one component that makes Idol so wildly popular and entertaining is the freak show, but giving someone an award for being freakish is bordering on mean-spiritedness.
In other Idol news, I was a girlfriends recently for a spa party, and after a few pedis, a coupla of manis, and many, many cosmos, she broke out her American Idol playstation (or playstation-type) 'game.' Thinking of it as just a glossy karaoke, I opted to bow out....until the first contestant 'performed'. I couldn't grab the microphone out of her hand fast enough when she was finished, so I could perform a – stellar - version of Love Will Keep Us Together - NAILED IT! Then, I was panned by Simon and Randy both! "Laura" (Paula evidently didn't sign-off on the use of her likeness) was very kind, of course, but I was devastated. And delighted. I can’t wait to do it again (but I probably still won’t watch the show…)
Well, oddly enough -- and I haven't watched all of it -- (I typically DVR stuff and watch later), but the music last night was really good. Melinda with BeBe and CeCe Winans. Kelly and Carrie. The whole Blake-Doug E Fresh thing, not to mention Kelly Clarkson ... Still haven't watched Green Day, but I'm told they were good also.